Unsteady Feet
by Settiai
Summary: Sometimes the Doctor should listen to his own advice.


The Doctor woke up with a splitting headache, a mouthful of dirt, and absolutely no idea where he was. Any one of those things would have been a cause for worry; all three of them together were more than a bit alarming.

Coughing, the Doctor pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around. It was dark, with only a sliver of light coming from somewhere above him. Still, he could vaguely make out a circular room with no visible doors. He reached out and tapped the wall, not surprised when some of it flaked away at his touch. Dirt walls.

At least that explained the mouthful of dirt he had been forced to spit out.

He paused. There was something he was missing. Circular room. Dirt walls. No doors. Light coming from somewhere above. That sounded almost as if he was describing a-

"Oh, I did _not_ fall in a hole," the Doctor exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet.

A few small rocks suddenly fell from above, followed by a scuffling sound. "Doctor!" Amy. That was Amy, though her voice sounded a lot more worried than the Doctor was used to hearing, at least when it was aimed at him rather than Rory. "Doctor, can you hear me?"

The Doctor looked up, blinking a little as his vision seemed to fade in and out. He could barely make out her familiar face peering down at him through a small hole nearly twenty feet up. "Of course I can hear you, Pond. I'm not deaf."

"I'm going to strangle you when we get down there," Amy shot back, her voice shaking a bit. Then she disappeared from his sight.

The Doctor blinked a few more times, trying to decide if it was his vision playing tricks on him or if Amy had actually moved. Then he heard her voice again, a little farther away than before.

"Rory, get over here! He's finally awake!"

Amy reappeared above him. A few seconds later, Rory appeared beside her. They both looked worried.

"What do you mean 'finally awake'?" the Doctor called up, frowning. He pointedly ignored the fact that his vision was still going in and out of focus.

Rory made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sigh. "Do you remember what happened?"

The Doctor spluttered. "Of course!"

Even though it was difficult to see their faces in the dim light and with his eyes acting up, Amy and Rory's unamused glares somehow managed to come through clearly. One of these centuries, he would have to discover how humans had that ability.

"Well, maybe not quite as clearly as the two of you seem to remember it," the Doctor said, backpedaling somewhat.

Rory glanced at Amy. "You tell him," he said. "I'm going to finish getting the ropes tied together."

The Doctor frowned as Rory disappeared, leaving Amy staring down at him. "If you haven't noticed," she said after a few seconds' pause, "you fell in a hole."

The Doctor opened his mouth.

"_After_ spending at least a good fifteen minutes warning Rory and me to be careful because there were dozens, possibly hundreds, of hidden underground chambers between where we left the TARDIS parked and the nearest city," Amy continued. There was no mistaking her glare this time.

The Doctor closed his mouth.

"Not to mention you've been unconscious for a good twenty minutes," Amy said, her voice still a little unsteady. "We were starting to think-"

She trailed off.

"Really, Amy," the Doctor said, shaking his head in amusement. He quickly stopped when a wave of vertigo swept over him. "Did you really think a little tumble could kill me?"

Amy narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could say anything, there was a muffled crash somewhere nearby followed by what sounded like some rather creative curses. Including several in what sounded like surprisingly accurate, if a bit colloquial, Latin. Amy glanced at something to her left, swore, and then disappeared from the opening again.

"As rescues go, this one is a bit underwhelming," the Doctor said, frowning.

Then the world tilted a bit, and he thought that maybe it would be a good idea if he sat back down for a few minutes while he waited for Amy and Rory to finish whatever it was they were-

"Damn it, Doctor, wake up!"

The Doctor's eyes flew open as someone slapped his face, and he was halfway up into a sitting position before his body decided to remind him that wasn't a good idea. He groaned, swaying slightly, before four arms suddenly grabbed him and helped him lean back against the wall.

"Amy!" Rory sounded amused, though the expression on his face leaned more toward irritated. "What have I told you about slapping people when they're not conscious?"

Amy just shrugged. "It woke him up, didn't it?"

The Doctor frowned, blinking several times as he tried to get both his vision and his memory to focus. "Wait, how did the two of you get down here?"

Rory reached over and pulled on a looped rope that was hanging nearby. "We set up a basic pulley system to get us in and out of this wonderful hole you found."

"Unless you're talking about how we got down here when the last thing you remember is us still being aboveground," Amy said, crossing her arms. "In which case, the answer is you passed out again."

The Doctor opened his mouth to argue with that supposition. Then he closed his mouth, frowned, and decided that it was probably close enough to the truth that he wouldn't win if he tried to argue otherwise. Still.

"I suppose that's how it appeared to the two of you."

Amy snorted.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "If that isn't the case, enlighten us," he said.

"Aren't you going to check and see if I'm dying first?" the Doctor asked, frowning. "Really, what type of nurse are you?"

"One who already checked your injuries while you were unconscious," Rory said calmly. "Considering how far you fell, you're in surprisingly good shape. Or a very fast healer."

Amy leaned back. "Considering that incident on Ry'Kla last week with the assassins and the flying motorcycle, I think it's safe to say it's the latter."

The Doctor shot them both a sheepish grin.

Shaking her head, Amy pushed herself to her feet. Rory did the same a moment later.

"Come on," Amy said, holding out her hand. The Doctor took it, letting her pull him to his feet. He swayed slightly as he waited for his equilibrium to normalize.

Rory reached over and put a steadying hand on the Doctor's arm, sandwiching him between Amy and himself. "Let's get out of this hole and back to the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS?" the Doctor repeated. "But what about-?"

Amy punched him lightly in the arm with her free hand, just above where she was holding him in a steadying grip. "We can visit the city later."

The Doctor stared blankly at her before turning toward Rory. "But-"

"I know better than to argue with my wife," Rory cut in, his mouth twitching as he tried not to smile.

The Doctor deflated as they led him to the ropes. "I suppose we can postpone if that's what you want," he grumbled, "since the two of you did spend so much time climbing down here."

Amy rolled her eyes, punching his arm again. "You know, most people would just say 'thank you.'"

The Doctor didn't say anything, but he smiled.


End file.
